TN-ITS Platform Update: TN-ITS GO Project Launched

On 27 November, TN-ITS hosted a Joint Progress Meeting in Brussels regrouping the pioneer TN-ITS implementations from Sweden and Norway together with the ongoing pilot implementations in Finland, Flanders, UK, Ireland and France. TN-ITS links the road operators with the mapmakers to provide users with fresh, accurate map data at all times. It is important that digital maps for ITS are highly up to date to ensure road safety and efficiency.

The big TN-ITS news is the announcement of the funding of the TN-ITS GO CEF grant. Nine additional member states were kindly invited to participate to the meeting and join the TN-ITS platform. TN-ITS GO is a brand new project, with a kick-off event expected in January 2018. The project aims to stimulate and accelerate the coordinated provision of ITS road spatial data and enhance the quality of existing TN-ITS services. A consortium has been built, uniting new partners – road authorities and operators across the EU -, champion countries, which are experienced in TN-ITS, and existing map makers. A total of 15 Member States are involved in the project, which is funded by DG MOVE under a CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) grant. The phases of the project have already been mapped out, but the implementation progress will depend on the degree of readiness of the individual member states. The different levels of maturity of the implementations make it easier for followers to implement on the basis of the experience of the earlier Member States. Nonetheless, the project should conclude in December 2021 with nine new implementations and six operational services of TN-ITS.

The TN-ITS Joint Progress meeting aimed to inform about the latest developments of the platform and present the best practices in TN-ITS from across the EU, as well as the TN-ITS efforts in standardisation. The meeting also included interesting insights on TN-ITS from the map providers perspective. The meeting gathered over 20 people, and was chaired by TN-ITS President Stephen T’Siobbel.